VR-PMS: a new approach for performance measurement and management of industrial systems

A new performance measurement and management framework based on value and risk is proposed. The proposed framework is applied to the modelling and evaluation of the a priori performance evaluation of manufacturing processes and to deciding on their alternatives. For this reason, it consistently integrates concepts relevant to objectives, activity, and risk in a single framework comprising a conceptual value/risk model, and it conceptualises the idea of value- and risk based performance management in a process context. In addition, a methodological framework is developed to provide guidelines for the decision-makers or performance evaluators of the processes. To facilitate the performance measurement and management process, this latter framework is organized in four phases: context establishment, performance modelling, performance assessment, and decision-making. Each phase of the framework is then instrumented with state of-the-art quantitative analysis tools and methods. For process design and evaluation, the deliverable of the value- and risk-based performance measurement and management system (VR-PMS) is a set of ranked solutions (i.e. alternative business processes) evaluated against the developed value and risk indicators. The proposed VR-PMS is illustrated with a case study from discrete parts manufacturing but is indeed applicable to a wide range of processes or systems

Confronting our mistakes: A comprehensive evaluation of radiographic errors in digital chest radiography among adult population in a public sector hospital

Objective: To find out the various types of radiographic errors in digital chest radiography and their effect on image quality leading to image rejection. Material and Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out in Radiology department of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences for a period of One month, September 2019. The study included 1560 digital Chest X-Rays, reaching the Picture Archive and Communication System (PACS), fulfilling the inclusion criteria. All these X-rays were analyzed by two radiology residents for the presence of radiographic errors in them. The various radiographic errors were then classified as: Positioning error, poor collimation, Artifacts, improper exposure, motion blur and mislabeling. The frequency of each radiographic error was measured along with their implication on image quality resulting in three major image categories: ACCEPT, JUST ACCEPTABLE and REJECT. The SPSS was adopted for inferential statistical analysis. Results: The study included 1013 (64.9%) male patients and 547 (35.1%) female patients. The mean age came out to be 36 +/- 15 years. Out of 1560 X-rays, 964 (61.8 %) had radiographic errors in them while 596 (38.2%) were completely devoid of radiographic errors. Positioning error (44.5 percent) was the most frequently encountered error followed by poor collimation (29.8%), artifacts (14.9%), Improper exposure (8%), motion blur (2.2%) and mislabeling (0.5%). The rejection rate came out to be 16.5 %. The major cause of image rejection was anatomy cutoff, especially the cut-off of cardio phrenic (CP) angle. Conclusion: Positioning errors represent the commonest cause of image rejection in chest radiography. The main identified pitfall was lack of radiographer’s education and training in performing an examination and indicates a need to improve their performance. Key words: Digital Radiography, Chest X ray, Radiographic error, Image reject &nbsp

Decision-making in the manufacturing environment using a value-risk graph

A value-risk based decision-making tool is proposed for performance assessment of manufacturing scenarios. For this purpose, values (i.e. qualitative objective statements) and concerns (i.e. qualitative risk statements) of stakeholders in any given manufacturing scenario are first identified and are made explicit via objective and risk modeling. Next, performance and risk measures are derived from the corresponding objective and risk models to evaluate the scenario under study. After that, upper and lower bounds, and target value is defined for each measure in order to determine goals and constraints for the given scenario. Because of the multidimensionality nature of performance, the identified objectives and risks, and so, their corresponding measures are usually numerous and heterogeneous in nature. These measures are therefore consolidated to obtain a global performance indicator of value and global indicator of risk while keeping in views the inter-criteria influences. Finally, the global indicators are employed to develop minimum acceptable value and maximum acceptable risk for the scenario under study and plotted on the VR-Graph to demarcate zones of “highly desirable”, “feasible”, “and risky” as well as the “unacceptable” one. The global scores of the indicators: (value-risk) pair of the actual scenario is then plotted on the defined VR-Graph to facilitate decision-making by rendering the scenarios’ performance more visible and clearer. The proposed decision-making tool is illustrated with an example from manufacturing setup in the process context but it can be extended to product or systems evaluation

Forensic investigation of Cisco WebEx desktop client, web, and Android smartphone applications

Digital forensic analysis of videoconferencing applications has received considerable attention recently, owing to the wider adoption and diffusion of such applications following the recent COVID-19 pandemic. In this contribution, we present a detailed forensic analysis of Cisco WebEx which is among the top three videoconferencing applications available today. More precisely, we present the results of the forensic investigation of Cisco WebEx desktop client, web, and Android smartphone applications. We focus on three digital forensic areas, namely memory, disk space, and network forensics. From the extracted artifacts, it is evident that valuable user data can be retrieved from different data localities. These include user credentials, emails, user IDs, profile photos, chat messages, shared media, meeting information including meeting passwords, contacts, Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) keys, keyword searches, timestamps, and call logs. We develop a memory parsing tool for Cisco WebEx based on the extracted artifacts. Additionally, we identify anti-forensic artifacts such as deleted chat messages. Although network communications are encrypted, we successfully retrieve useful artifacts such as IPs of server domains and host devices along with message/event timestamps

A situational analysis of HIV and AIDS in Pakistan

HIV (Human immunodeficiency virus) transmission has been reduced by protected sex and screening of blood products and other body fluids in the developed countries. It has been reported that Pakistan is at high risk of HIV/AIDS infection but presently the prevalence rate is considerably low. The number of reported cases of HIV/AIDS in Pakistan has been continuously increasing since 1987. By 2010 the total number of registered cases has reached to 6000 and this figure is on the rise with the passage of time. Some serious strategies must be implemented to control this deadly disease

Performance Visualization in Industrial Systems for Informed Decision Making

Information visualization is a key component of many decision support tools in sciences and engineering. Graph is a visual construct that is widely used to model information for visualization. In this paper, a value-risk graph is proposed to visualize the results of value-risk based performance measurement systems (PMSs). The proposed graph for PMS divides the overall performance of industrial systems into distinct zones to facilitate the decision-making process. The upper bound, lower bound, and target value of each measure are decided by the performance evaluator and, then, transformed into normalized values using value theory principles. The aggregation of normalized measures along value and risk lines when combined defines “highly desirable”, “feasible”, ”risky”, and “unacceptable” zones. Scenario performance data when plotted on the graph visualize the overall performance of the system in terms of value and risk. The proposed decision-making value-risk graph is illustrated with an example dealing with manufacturing process design but it can be applied to any kind of system evaluation

Process-oriented risk assessment methodology for manufacturing process evaluation

A process-oriented risk assessment methodology is proposed. Risks involved in a process and the corresponding risk factors are identified through an objectives-oriented risk identification approach and evaluated qualitatively in the Process FMEA. The critical risks of the PFMEA are then incorporated in the process model for further quantitative analysis employing simulation technique. Using the proposed methodology as a decision-making tool, alternative scenarios are developed and evaluated against the developed risk measures. The risk measures values issues out of simulation are normalized and aggregated to form a global risk indicator to rank the alternative processes on the basis of desirability. The methodology is illustrated with a case study issued from parts manufacturing but is applicable to a wide range of other processes

Bifunctional Heterogeneous Catalysts for Biodiesel Production using Low Cost Feedstocks: A Future Perspective

Currently, the fossil fuel sources are the major contributors to the world\u27s energy mix. However, these conventional energy sources are depleting very fast due to their finite nature and extensive uses. An addition to their finite nature, environmental problems related to their uses are getting progressively worse and worse, initiating challenging debates for scientific communities. Biodiesel, a renewable fuel, has shown promising prospects due to its strong socioeconomic benefits and motivations in most of the countries of the world. Bifunctional heterogeneous catalysts are strongly recommended for biodiesel production from different feedstocks to simplify the process. This review highlights the challenges and opportunities associated with the heterogeneous catalysts and some recommendations to design an efficient bifunctional heterogeneous catalyst for economical biodiesel production from waste cooking oil